Abrasive wheels for cutting, grinding and performing other finishing operations on material surfaces are known in the art. Such abrasive wheels are generally attached to different types of power tools that provide rotational motion to the abrasive wheel. More specifically, the abrasive wheels are able to be attached to a rotating arbor of a power tool, such that the power tool is able to provide rotation to the abrasive wheel. As such, when the rotating abrasive wheel contacts the surface of a work piece, the rotation of the abrasive wheel is sufficient to cut, grind or otherwise remove material from the work piece.
Many abrasive wheels are suitable for use with hand-held power tools, such as angle grinders. In addition, in many cases, the abrasive wheels are disposable components that are thrown-away once they have become worn out. A deficiency with many existing abrasive wheels is that they are time consuming and cumbersome to attach to the arbor of the power tools. The attachment and removal processes often requires multiple pieces, such as nuts and clamping discs in order to secure the abrasive wheel to the arbor of the power tool. In addition, tools such as wrenches are often needed in order to both attach a new abrasive wheel to the power tool and remove a worn abrasive wheel from the power tool.
As such, when replacing an abrasive wheel, an operator has to be careful not to lose or otherwise misplace the small pieces, such as the nuts, that are required for attaching a new abrasive wheel. The operators must also be certain to have the necessary tools on hand that are needed to remove a worn abrasive wheel and attach a new abrasive wheels. Obviously, this can result in situations where the operator will have to go out of his or her way in order to replace a worn-out grinding wheel.
In addition, during a grinding, cutting or polishing operation, the relatively high rotation speed of the abrasive wheel can cause the work piece to increase in temperature at the location where the abrasive wheel is in contact with the surface of the work piece. This increase in temperature can result in premature wear of the abrasive wheel, deformation of the work piece as well as potential inefficiency in material removal.
Against this background, it can be seen that there is a need in the industry to improve at least some of the deficiencies presented by existing abrasive wheels used with power tools.